- Welcome remarks by Yousim Oh Kim, fundraising committee chair
- President's greeting and Sejong Cultural Society Program Overview by Juliana Chyu, president
- Keynote speech by Honorable Consul General, Chul Huh
- Piano performance by Trenton Takaki
- Violin performance by Jennifer Cha
- Do-salpuri by Byungman Son, , accompanied by Noel Oh, piri and Sora Kim, jang-gu
- Piri Sanjo by Noel Oh, accompanied by Sora Kim, jang-gu
- Bongsan Talchum by Byungman Son, accompanied by Noel Oh, piri and Sora Kim, jang-gu

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Keynote Speech

"Culture as a Driving Force of Korea's Progress"
Honorable Chul Huh,
Consul General of Republic of Korea in Chicago

Ambassador Chul Huh arrived in Chicago in March 2010.
Before he was appointed as the Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Chicago, he served as Director-General & Ambassador for Korea Peninsula Peace Regime for two years.

He has served as Director of North America Division III as well as Director of Consular Division.  He was also Advisor to Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2003 and Principal Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1997.

Ambassador Huh served twice as Assistant Secretary to the President for Foreign Affairs, in 1996 under then-President Kim Young-sam and in 1998 under then-President Kim Dae-jung.

His overseas missions included posts such as the United Arab Emirates, the United Nations, India, the United States of America, and the Kingdom of Belgium and the European Union.

After working at a petroleum company for two years, he left and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1981.

Ambassador Huh graduated from Yonsei University with a B.A. in Economics and received his M.A.L.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

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Sejong Cultural Society
Fundraising Benefit Dinner and Concert
Howard Levy, harmonica

Saturday, February 25, 2012
Drury Lane, Oakbrook 100 Drury Lane
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
(630) 530-8300

Master of Ceremony: Won Jung Park, KBC TV Chicago, Channel 41

Won J. Park is the producer and the host for KBC TV Ch.41's popular evening show News Magazine for 5 years.
Prior to TV, he was announcer and DJ for various radio stations including Seoul Broadcasting, Radio Korea, and KCBS.
Park also has a professional music career as a choir director, composer, and jazz piano.

 

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Invitation Card

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Performances:

Byungman Son,
Selected solo dance scenes from the Bongsan Talchum (Korean Traditional Mask Dances) and Salpuri
(solo performances with music accompaniments by Sora Kim, jang-gu and Noeul Oh, piri)

Korean mask dance dramas are not just dances performed by masked dancers but also include significant dramatic content with masked characters portraying people, animals and sometimes supernatural beings. These folk dramas reflect the frustrations felt by the lower classes towards the Confucian literati Yangban, due to the latter's treatment of the commoners, show the life of the common man and process social problems such as monks who ignore their precepts and men who cast off their old wives.

Mr. Byungman Son has been performing the Korean mask dance over twenty years and has been teaching Bongsan Talchum over eight years in Korea. He is one of the officially designated Bongsan Talchum performer (무형문화재 17호 봉산탈춤 이수자).

What is Bongsan Talchum ? - watch a video clip on YouTube (4 min)
video clip "Welcome to the world of Bongsan Talchum"

Also performances by

Sejong Music Competition Winners:

Trenton Takaki, piano video
(Piano Senior Division First place and
Best Interpretation of Korean Piece award)
Jennifer Cha, violin video
(2010 Violin Senior Division First place and
Best Interpretation of Korean Piece award)

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